Wow! Has NCIS found Ziva's replacement too soon?

Michelle Carlbert is a freelance writer and TV blogger who is a self-proclaimed geek and fangirl. She writes about all things relating to TV and loves everything from dramas to sci-fi and comedies. Michelle lives in Los Angeles and write...

How will the fans take to Agent Bishop?

CBS has announced that a new actress is joining the team on NCIS. But is it soon after Cote de Pablo's departure to replace Ziva?

CBS hasn't wasted any time in locating a replacement for Ziva on NCIS. Cote de Pablo left the show at the beginning of Season 11 and already it looks like her desk is going to be filled by another female agent. The question is: Are fans ready for someone to take her place so soon?

Here is an excerpt from the announcement made about the new actress joining the show:

Emily Wickersham joins the team on NCIS as a series regular beginning Tuesday, Nov. 19. She plays NSA Analyst Eleanor "Ellie" Bishop, a mysterious mixture of analytic brilliance, fierce determination and idealism who specializes in international threat assessment and global preparation.

"Emily Wickersham's Ellie Bishop is proving to perfectly compliment the NCIS team," said Executive Producer Gary Glasberg. "Her energy and enthusiasm is contagious. Great things are planned for Bishop and we couldn't be more thrilled to have her on board."

Wickersham's character, Ellie Bishop, will be introduced when it is discovered the Secretary of the Navy was bugged during a confidential briefing, a security breach Bishop described in exact detail two years ago in a threat analysis report. Working side-by-side with Gibbs and the team, Bishop cross-examines the case file to help determine who is behind the crime.

Ziva has been off the show for five episodes so far and, by the time Bishop appears, it will have been six. Six whole episodes to get over a character that has been on the show for eight seasons. That hardly seems like enough time for fans to get past Ziva. Then again, fans only had one or two episodes (depending on whether you count ghostly appearances) to get over Kate before Ziva was introduced.

There's also the simple fact that the team seems to be doing quite well right now. Gibbs, Tony and McGee have a fantastic dynamic on their own and it's not like they don't have plenty of help. Between Abby, Ducky and Palmer, it feels like the team has plenty of members these days. Plus, Tony and McGee's bromance has been going so well. Wouldn't it be a shame to see all of that messed up by a new face coming on board?

On the other side of the coin, the team has been made up of four people for a long time. Do fans really want to see a team of three forever? As much fun as it is to have just the three guys, it is definitely great to have the female point of view to offset them. The show has already given fans the uptight, tough, sort of goody-two shoes in Kate, and then gave them the mysterious, tough girl in Ziva. What kind of tough girl (because, let's face it, of course she will be tough) will Bishop be?

What do you think of the news that Ziva's replacement has been found on NCIS? Are you ready to accept someone new on the team?